How to Engage Employees Across the Country with Philanthropy

With employee engagement becoming increasingly important for companies across the country, Trello wanted to engage their employees in a meaningful initiative for the holiday season. However, one challenge was to engage employees that worked remotely for the online project management tool — this equated to more than half their staff.

In 2015, Trello, which was founded in 2010, took its first foray into holiday giving. “We offer snacks and lunch for free at our headquarters,” says Brian Schmidt, VP of Operations and Finance at Trello. “We asked employees at our headquarters to donate the cost of those meals to charity” during the holidays as part of their philanthropic strategy.

While their first foray into a holiday giving initiative was a success for employees at their headquarters, they knew they needed to expand it to allow participation for those working remotely, too.

That’s where Mightycause came in.

In 2016, Trello started a fundraiser, “Trello Gives Back,” on Mightycause. To encourage more employee participation, Trello offered to match dollar-for-dollar the gifts made to their campaign’s page, with a goal to raise $10,000 overall.

The response was better than Trello could have expected — in just two days, more than 60 employees donated more than $6,000 to their fundraiser, which will support the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence. Trello plans to pick a different nonprofit nationwide each year, according to Kristen Habacht, their VP of Sales who oversees the company’s philanthropy.

“I love Trello… Thank you so much for doing this,” reads one comment on their fundraiser.

“Thanks Trello for giving me so much and reminding me that it’s important to give back, as well!” reads another.

Trello matched the donations on the page on Dec. 22, bringing their total to $12,808 raised to support domestic abuse victims nationwide.

With the success of this campaign, Trello is seeking more opportunities throughout the year to continue to engage employees in philanthropic efforts.